The plane was transporting military personnel when it was shot down by terrorists using anti-aircraft machine guns.

Surveillance camera footage from Luhansk showed a mid-air explosion after an object – apparently a rocket – was launched into the sky, followed by a larger explosion and fire on the ground. Dmytro Tymchuk, a military analyst from the Informational Resistance group, later reported that the empty tubes of two Igla handheld surface-to-air missiles had been found near Luhansk airport.

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Empty cans of the products made by the company Orelproduct (Mtsensk, Russia) were also found where the ambush had been located, Tymchuk reported.

Vladimir Inogorodsky, spokesman of the Luhansk People's Republic terrorist organization, confirmed that the terrorists had shot the plane down with Igla missiles and said they were currently blockading the airport. Last week, terrorists announced that they would not allow any more flights into the airport.

5 Ukrainian border guards were shot, 7 wounded in Mariupol today, after the convoy of vehicles of the State Border Service was shot down by the terrorists.

“Around 10 a.m. today, near Azovstal steelworks plant the convoy of Ukrainian vehicles was shot at from an ambush. The convoy included vehicles with foodstuffs heading to the Ukrainian border. The attackers used machine guns and grenade launchers. The soldiers took the fight. During the shootout, 5 Ukrainian border guards were killed, 7 more were injured, the State Border Service informed.